Oh, Christmas Trees!

I'm usually not much of a decorator, but I got the bug this year. No, not all of our halls are decked with Christmas decor, but even this much is a breakthrough for me! We love our trees! We have a tree inspired by Hank, complete with real deer antlers, and a tree for me, complete with all of our wedding decorations! Hope you enjoy our pictures as much as we do! Happy, happy Holidays!
Hank putting our little "White Pine" tree in the stand,

Our wilderness tree! My sister made all the ornaments for us last year, the bulbs have pictures of animals in them! Our wedding tree in progress.

My favorite nativity ever!

Hank's Antler lamp (which he made) all decked out.

Close up of our wedding tree

Ta Da! Finally the finished product!

OUR HALLOWEEN!

I know I'm late with the post again, but better late than never! We had a wonderful Halloween. Hank was the big bad wolf disguised as the grandma and I was little red riding hood! Hope you all enjoy our pictures!

The wolf Hank and his farm girl mom

"Trick or Treating" at my momma's

All the Grover girls and friends!

Cody, Hank, Luke, and Mr. T...oh, I mean Eli

Thank you once again to Laura and Eli for hosting and for making such a fun night for all of us!

I SURVIVED!

Well, I have officially survived my first hunting season as a hunting widow. Honestly it was better and worse than I expected all at the same time. Hank's first night away from home was a little sad. My sweet sister in law and niece caught wind I was feeling a little down and brought me one of my favorite treats (Jamba...yummy) to Cheer me up! That was our first night apart from each other since we had been married. I couldn't bring myself to sleep in our bed so I went to Hollywood and rented about 5 chick flicks to get me through the weekend. After the first night, things were better. I spent a lot of time with my fellow hunting widows and friends. All this time also gave me the chance to catch up on stuff around the house. Even though it was nice to get a break from random half full mountain dews all over the house every weekend, in a way I missed not seeing them on every flat surface in the house...who would have thought!

Hank was successful and shot two nice bucks. I was so happy for him! He has been having a tough and stressful semester and hunting on weekends was a great escape for him.

Although hunting season is technically over, lets be honest it never really ends. I might get two weeks, if I'm lucky, before the off season hunting season begins. This will first consist of driving and hiking around with binoculars to see where the deer and elk are hanging out. This precedes the next phase, horn hunting. This horn hunting will last untill about a month before next years hunting season. Then they will begin scoping out where the animals are hanging out again. Then September comes and the cycle will start all over again! So I guess it's really not over it's just beginning...Shoot! So much for my survival post! But I love everything about Hank and Hank loves to hunt so to the next...endless season of obsession with antlers...bring it on!

Belated Birthday Tribute

This post is a little overdue, but better late than never, right? October 8 was Hank's 25th Birthday. Unfourtunately, the majority of his birthday was spent at school. He left at 8AM and didn't make it home untill 5:30PM. He was such a trooper. He kept calling me to make sure I was okay! How great is he?! We did eventually have a great night with part of the crew at dinner and then at our nephew's football game.

Hank is incredibile. Yes, at times he can be a little nutty, kind of stubborn, and his life seems to revolve around hunting seasons, but he is truely the most amazing man I know. He is so considerate, kind and smart. He cares deeply about those around him and is very protective of those he loves. He always wants to make those around him feel good and important. It is impossible to be around him without smiling. He always knows just what to say to make me laugh or cheer me up. He does the dishes even though he hates them. He enjoys life and is not afraid to laugh at himself. He loves the outdoors and gets the cutest little smile when he goes up into the mountains. He is always concerned about me and takes such good care of me. He always tells me how much he appreciates me and loves me (even when I almost ruined his bday cake by dumping it on the floor at his bday dinner). He is such an amazing friend, and husband. I realize more and more every single day just how blessed I am to have him in my life.

The BEAR Encounter!

Last year on September 28th Hank took me for a hike. When we finally reached the top, of what we now call "Ring Ridge" he asked me to marry him. This year we decided to celebrate this anniversary by retracing our footsteps from the previous year. We stopped in all the same places, took pictures and video footage in all the same places. However, there was one big difference. As we turned a corner about three fourths of the way to the top Hank stopped dead in his tracks, swung his 7MM off his shoulder into shooting position and said "Holy **** there's a bear. I'm not even kidding there is a bear!" I was just rounding the corner and sure enough right in front of us at about 50 yards was a black bear starring straight at us. I imagine that in the next few moments Hank and I and the bear were all experiencing similar thoughts. We were wondering do we shoot him, or do we turn around and run. The bear seemed to be thinking...do I try to eat them, or do I turn around and run.


About a minute into our standoff the bear began growling, grunting and clacking his teeth at us. Hank was ready to shoot if the bear made one wrong move, but we weren't entirely sure if the bear was legal. We could tell it was a young smaller bear but we didn't know if it was a cub or a sow with cubs (both of which are illegal too shoot). Even though it wasn't a massive bear and Hank could have killed it at any moment... I was scared. Big or small a bear is a bear and where there is one bear there could be two, or three, or a whole colony of bears. (This resulted in the somewhat blurry pictures...I was shaking).

After about two minutes, the bear chose to run and we chose not to shoot. Hank battled with his choice the rest of the day, wondering if he just should of shot the dang thing. I really hope the bear did not spend the rest of his day contemplating if he should have come after us! I guess we were all lucky to make it out in one piece!

The life and death of Sanchez...the mustache

This picture documents about day 2 of little Sanchez's life. Who is Sanchez? Well, it's Hank's mustache. Why...I'm not quite sure, but Hank proudly informed me that he was naming his mustache Sanchez. I am not the biggest fan of facial hair, but he is my husband and to keep the peace I chose not to veto the mustache... or Sanchez I mean.

About a month into Sanchez's life, I was not a very happy camper. I'm not sure why, but I am a woman and retain the right to be moody every once and a while, right? I CHOSE to feel neglected, unappreciated, and unnoticed. (This is not even remotely true. Hank makes me feel the exact opposite, but I was in one of those moods where I just wanted to be mad.) So like any mature woman, in order to make my point, I decided to avoid my husband. After a couple of days, my hormones must have shut off, and I realized I was being ridiculous.

So...back to Sanchez. After my grumpy episode, Hank finally broke down and asked me if I noticed that he had shaved his mustache. I hadn't. He had waited two days to see if I'd notice. I didn't. Sanchez was gone. I was too busy being wrapped up in the idea that he didn't pay attention to me that I forgot to pay attention to him.

So it seems, that next time I find myself in a negative funk all I need to do is remember little Sanchez, and realize that even though life can be a little stressful at times it is beautiful and wonderful. The story of Sanchez reminded me that life is what we make of it, so instead of looking for (or even making up) things to make us miserable, we should look for and appreciate all of our fortunes and blessings!

When my charity attempt BACKFIRED!

So it all began in the wal-mart parking lot. Low and behold as I drove past the wal mart parking lot, a skinny, little, old, dirty, sad lookin man stood holding a cardboard sign that merely said "PLEASE HELP ME." Needless to say I knew that if I did not do something for him I would not be able to stop thinking about what I could have done for him. So I decided to buy him some food. I hurried about...well as fast as you can in wal-mart...and left the store complete with enough groceries for the sidewalk stander to last a couple of days. As I was unloading my groceries, I noticed a woman standing behind me. I turned around to see a women who was probably in her mid forties. It didn't take me long to realize that she wasn't all there, or as some may say she was a few cards short of a full deck.. or maybe missing about half. She asked if she could get a ride to the other side of town. She then began ranting about something and everything. I tried to see if there was anyone I could call for her. This began another rant filled answer. The entire time I was trying to figure out what I should do. I knew that I wanted to help her, but I also knew it could be a potentially scarry situation. After about five minutes, I told her I was so sorry but I was on my to class and couldn't take her home. I got in my car still asking myself if I had made the right desicion. It gets worse, by the time I got back to where the man was...he was gone. I made a couple loops but could not find him. So while trying to help someone out, I ended up turning someone away, not helping the man, and feeling worse than if I would have kept driving. That's about my luck I guess. Did I do the right thing, should I have taken the "crazy" lady home? I don't know, what do ya'll think?

The road to where is paved with good intentions?

Good intentions. Unfortunately, it just so happens that I am the Queen of them. I am the type that will spend hours picking huckleberries and forget to eat them, write letters and never send them, buy flowers and never plant them, take pictures and never print them...as you can see it's a problem. This blog fits right into that category. I have been saying that I will start one for the last three months. I have even written up some drafts to post when I got around to it. Well needless to say the snippets I have written are outdated by now. In fact, I'd still be writing for a blog I didn't have if it weren't for my sister, Chelsi, who finally gave up on me and just took matters into her own hands. I got a text this morning with my new blog name and password (thanks for coming to my rescue again sis). So needless to say, I will try to keep this site as up to date as possible...for a good intention stuck soul such as myself.

If you like Pina Coladas....

Hank and I recently took a trip to Hawaii, where the only things to hunt were perfect waves and seashells but Hank managed just fine! In fact once I got him there...he loved it! We also got to spend time with my sister and her husband which only added to our wonderful experience! It was hard to leave the sun, waves, and white sand to come back to reality, but our aloha filled memories will certainly last us a lifetime!